Leaplings
by scifiromance
Summary: Faced with the (probable) imminent arrival of their child on a leap day, Seven finds she has even more strange human traditions and preconceptions to discuss with her husband... C/7. One-shot.
**I do not own Star Trek: Voyager.**

* * *

"I am beginning to feel empathy with B'Elanna's predicament on Voyager…" Seven grumbled under her breath as she padded awkwardly from the bathroom back towards the bed, her human hand splayed over her lower back as she walked. Not only was the baby pressing relentlessly down on her bladder, but each kick in her back brought twinges of pain to every one of the sensitive implants embedded along the entirety of her spinal column.

Chakotay chuckled sleepily, the warm sound muffled by his pillow. "Which one? We all had plenty of them…"

Seven halted, her hand shifting to her hip as she smirked at him. "When she was pregnant on the holodeck." She answered drily.

"Hey, I played a good ole G.I. in that programme, not a Nazi!" Chakotay jokingly objected.

"I remember you, Captain Miller." Seven assured him, a wry smile playing across her lips as she remembered his uniform, and the momentary flustered feeling she'd experienced when he'd jumped on her to save her from the grenade, a feeling she'd hardly understood at the time.

"Then I'm sure you'll remember that 'Brigitte's' baby wasn't real, much to the relief of her 'Bobby'." Chakotay replied as he sat up fully in bed before swinging his legs over the edge of what was Seven's side of the bed, reaching out a steadying hand to her which she gladly took. Gently, he guided her back until she could sit heavily down beside him. "But our baby is, thankfully, very real." He murmured, kissing the softest curve in her throat as he laid both of their hands over her blooming abdomen.

"Precisely." Seven answered, giving a relieved laugh despite herself as their son obligingly kicked under their clasped hands and she felt Chakotay's joyful smile against her skin. "I was actually referring to B'Elanna's…exasperation as she reached Miral's due date."

"Frustration would be a better word, Klingon levels of frustration." Chakotay recalled with a slight shake of his head, "And she wasn't even technically overdue."

"And I am!" Seven exclaimed hotly, then hurriedly took a deep breath to curtail the outburst. "I…realise that it's irrational to be so agitated…"

"Not really." Chakotay interrupted soothingly, "We've been waiting a long time, Perla has been asking every day if her little brother is here yet…"

"She informed me that she'd like to take him to school with her to show her classmates, according to her they're enthusiastic about it."

"Six year olds are enthusiastic about almost everything." Chakotay reminded her, thinking fondly of their daughter.

"Except going to bed or eating anything that is good for them." Seven tossed back, exchanging a smile with him even as she sighed.

"True." Chakotay readily conceded as he began to massage her aching back for her. "Maybe you should take him into school for a few minutes, all the kids would love it…"

Seven arched a brow at him. "Unless he happened to be crying at the time." She pointed out, leaning back into his skilful hands. "If this pregnancy drags on as it has, the schools may be on spring vacation before he makes an appearance…"

"Isn't exaggeration irrelevant?" Chakotay teased, then sighed when her lips hardly quirked. "Come on, it can't be long now. You've done so well this time but the Doctor won't let it go on much longer, he said so himself. At least when you had a false alarm, we didn't go all the way to the hospital before you realised…"

"Only because I was awake enough to scan myself." Seven muttered, thinking agitatedly of all the errands she could be proceeding with if she had a modicum of energy after caring for their daughter through the day. Having Chakotay do much of it in her stead only seemed to satisfy the nesting instinct so much. "The Doctor also said we would soon have to discuss induction, perhaps he could get the process underway during today's appointment, since Perla left to stay with Irene yesterday…"

"Oh no, we should wait at least a day." Chakotay said firmly. "Today is February 29th!"

Seven moved away from him and slowly lay back on the bed, her brow furrowing in bemusement. "Why is that relevant?" she asked blankly before looking up at him, "If you are concerned about your son not sharing your own birthday, remember that labour is a long process and induction can make it more so, he could easily still be born on March 2nd…" Seeing that Chakotay was shaking his head, she boldly added, "And our daughter already has a variant of your first name as her second given name…"

Chakotay lightly gripped her hands to interrupt her, "I know all that honey, and as much as it would be a great coincidence if he and I shared a birthday, I'm not bothered about it." His face took on a mildly self-deprecating expression, "I'm just glad he'll arrive around my 59th birthday rather than my 60th, I already get enough jokes made at my expense during the reunions…"

Seven's features, in contrast, fell upon hearing that. "I thought that didn't overly concern you…" She whispered seriously, "You are a very healthy man…"

Chakotay immediately cupped her cheek reassuringly, caressing it with his thumb as he leaned awkwardly over her, avoiding leaning on her bump, to kiss her tenderly. "I'm fine." He promised her, "We've been very, very fortunate Seven…" His mouth twisted wryly, "…just not very conventional."

"We have never been conventional." Seven stated baldly.

"No, and thank goodness for that." Chakotay declared with absolute certainty as he settled beside her, his arm curled protectively around her and their unborn son. After a few moments of quiet between them, he chuckled thoughtfully, "Actually, it would suit us just fine if he arrived today, maybe even appropriate…"

"You still have not explained _why_ exactly." Seven cut in impatiently.

"Because February 29th only comes around every four years. His birthday wouldn't be an exact science for the other three in the cycle, but it would be special when it did arrive. An administrative headache though…"

Seven finally realised what he was referring to. "The system of 'leap seconds, days and years is an anachronism. Earth's Gregorian calendar was officially phased out in favour of the Federation wide Stardate system 129 years ago. Why are you concerned about an anomaly in an outdated system?"

"Because that 'outdated system' is much easier to follow than Stardates! Everyone I've ever known has to check it on a Computer…" He stopped himself as he caught her eye, "Well, almost everyone I've ever known." He shrugged to himself, "Seriously though, you've seen how we still use the traditional calendar for birthdays. Perla's is January 6th, mine March 2nd, yours June 24th… Why should our son be any different?"

"He won't be." Seven admitted, "Human culture is attached to traditional dates for birthdays, and so, presumably, to leap days too, inefficient and irrational as it is." She gave him a knowing look, "I presume humanity attaches specific irrational traditions to this particular anomalous day?"

"You presume correctly." Chakotay said in mock serious tone, struggling to keep his face straight as he met Seven's now twinkling, expectant eyes. "Traditionally…" His voice dropped conspiratorially, "…it's the one day a woman can ask a man to marry her."

"That is…" Seven started slowly, "… _bizarre_. However most of the traditions around marriage proposals are almost as baffling."

Chakotay was beginning to wish he hadn't started this conversation as the bed moulded to his form and he grew cosy again. It was after all, only 0300. "Exactly why I didn't get down on one knee when I asked you."

"You were still recovering from dislocating your knee in that skiing accident in Norway when you proposed to me." Seven reminded him drily.

He was caught out, but still Chakotay couldn't stifle a yawn. "I'm a pragmatist." He answered in the same tone.

"Are you?" Seven questioned doubtfully, then asked quietly, "If I had known to ask you, would you have said yes?"

Chakotay turned her face away from the ceiling into his. "Did I kiss you back when you kissed me first?"

Seven smiled at him softly, her gaze open. "Yes, quite certainly."

"Very certainly." Chakotay corrected her before kissing her soundly and deeply to illustrate his point.

* * *

 **A/n: Just a bit of random, very light fluff, but I hope it's enjoyable. Please review. :)**

 **Perla is both the Swedish and Spanish version of the name Pearl, and according to Memory Alpha was almost Seven's human name before the writers settled on Annika instead.**


End file.
